paleogeography

noun

pa·​leo·​ge·​og·​ra·​phy ˌpā-lē-ō-jē-ˈä-grə-fē 

 especially British  ˌpa-

: the geography of ancient times or of a particular past geologic epoch

paleogeographic

ˌpā-lē-ō-ˌjē-ə-ˈgra-fik 

 especially British  ˌpa-

adjective

or paleogeographical

ˌpā-lē-ō-ˌjē-ə-ˈgra-fi-kəl 

 especially British  ˌpa-

paleogeographically

ˌpā-lē-ō-ˌjē-ə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

 especially British  ˌpa-

adverb

Examples of paleogeography in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sergey Zimov first traveled to the high Arctic in the 1970s to study its paleogeography—its ancient landscapes. —Ferris Jabr, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 July 2024

The position of a landmass in the geologic past — a continent’s paleogeography — could be used to claim rights to that land. —Brian Romans, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2010

Word History

Etymology

paleo- + geography

Note: Probably coined on multiple occasions. The geologist Thomas Sterry Hunt regarded the word as a neologism when he used it in 1872 ("The student of organic fossils constructs from their history the sciences of paleophytology and paleozoölogy; and we may also, from the records of the attendant physical changes, construct what may be appropriately named paleogeography, or, the geographical history of these ancient geological periods." —"The Paleogeography of the North American Continent," "Read November 12, 1872," Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, vol. 4 [1873], p. 417). French paléogéographie was used in the table of contents of Hervé Faye's translation of Alexander von Humboldt's Kosmos (Cosmos, Essai d'une description physique du monde, première partie, Paris, 1847), though there is no corresponding word in the German text, which lacks a table of contents.

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above